Vocaroo: Educational Podcasting

What Can Vocaroo Be Used For? 
Vocaroo (https://vocaroo.com/) is a tool that can be used to create podcasts. To begin, a podcast is a digital audio file that can be sent to your audience. So, why do you want to consider using podcasting for instruction? To begin, you are very busy. Imagine if you can reduce the number of emails you need to send, or imagine if you can reduce the number of times you need to repeat instructions. A podcast can be used to give instructions about an assignment, or a process that you want the learners to know about. All you need to do is copy the link into your learning management system, or in the chat box of your virtual classroom. Your learners will have the instructions at their fingertips that they can pause, rewind and replay as needed. This frees you up to focus on areas of your instruction that can really help students, such as teaching a student how to do something. Next, you can use podcasting to send announcements to your learners. Yes, it is nice to have a visual piece in your announcements, but imagine if your learners can hear your voice as you walk through an important announcement. It makes it more personal. Next, let us say you have a short lecture to give? You can give a lecture using podcasting then offer a live class to work with students who need additional help. Another great thing that instructional podcasting can be used for is for an introduction to a project. Instead of handing out a document to your students and having them read the introduction to the project, imagine if you had an energetic audio file to send to them. You could be a newscaster, a government official with urgent news, and much more. This can really help your students buy into a project you want them to complete. Also, you could use podcasting for a way to have your students complete a project. For example, if you have your students working on a debate, they can upload their side of a debate as an audio file to a shared folder for all students to listen to. This way students can listen to multiple different sides of a debate. Finally, you can use Vocaroo to leave feedback for students on an assignment. You would be able to walk students through areas they did well on and through areas where they need to show additional mastery. Overall, instructional podcasting can help students learn because you are adding a personal touch to your classroom, and an audio version of the materials can help student as they work through material. Lastly, it can save you time because you do not have to repeat yourself multiple times, and it can add a little pizazz to the content.

How to Use Vocaroo?

• Step 1: Click on the "Record" button.

• Step 2: Start Talking.
• Step 3: Click "Pause."
  • You can click the "Pause" button for a break then hit the "Play" button to continue.

• Step 4: Click on the box.

• Step 5: You can preview the podcast by clicking on the "Play" button.

• Step 6: Click "Save & Share."

• Step 7: Choose how you would like to share the podcast.

Reference 
(2007). Retrieved from https://vocaroo.com/